“Pssst… Yeah, I’m talking to you. We’re playing on Tuesday in Boulder. You should come.”

Boulder’s Rose Hill Drive has carved itself an impressive niche for itself on the touring circuit, earning the respect of bands from The Who to Van Halen, and getting tagged by Rolling Stone as one of the Top Ten artists to watch last year. So why aren’t they blowing up to the epic proportions of the Fray?

It could be because the hard rock trio’s sound is more specialized, cobbling bits of hazy retro-rock, blues, and the guitar-driven sound of bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Wolfmother, and early ’90s Stone Temple Pilots into its hard-charging style. In advance of the group’s June 24 release show at the Fox Theatre for new album, “Moon is the New Earth,” we e-mailed lead singer/bassist Jacob Sproul about the rigors of the road, the new album and Denver’s burgeoning profile on the national music scene.

You’ve said the new album was recorded, “In our hometown in our favorite studio with our favorite people.” What’s the lowdown on that studio, and who are your favorite people?

Coupe Studios is where we chose to record the album. We are super close with the owner Scott Roche and have been doing music projects with him for years. He’s pretty much the band’s full time executive producer and mentor. Out of the same building, our manager Brian Schwartz and his assistant Amy Abrams run Bleemusic Inc.

Every engineer there is class, and the people that keep it moving in the front offices are super pro. Everyone that works there is absolutely wonderful, conductors of positive momentum. To list a few, we couldn’t do it without Greg McRae, Aaron Lasko, Meriku Lewis, Ed Kaufman, John McVey, Kip Kuepper, Bobby Gibson, Lindsay McWilliams, Mike Destito, or Eric Singer.

It is basically our second home and the Coupe staff is our second family. The band found it to be the most comfortable creatively. We now realize that everything we need to make music is right in front of us in our hometown.

What were the biggest challenges in putting together your sophomore album?

Being objective about our songs and gathering the wisdom to know when a take was just right, or not working. Same with the sounds, just being able to know when it sounded cool, and having the guts to say so when something wasn’t working. It can be a struggle to be honest in those situations but ultimately works the best.

As a band that places an emphasis on your live shows, how did you try to recreate that energy in the studio?

We didn’t really. And we don’t necessarily put emphasis on our live show. We play live a lot and we love to do it, but it doesn’t change or direct the way we feel about the studio. We act naturally in both venues and try to have as much fun as possible which creates energy on both ends of the spectrum. I think recreating goes against creativity and would allow us less freedom in the studio.

Were there any primary inspirations when writing “Moon is the New Earth”?

Collectively, we wrote about the road, trying to maintain a lifestyle and relationships while on the road, and trying to maintain relationships with each other in the band. Songs like “A Better Way” and “Laughing in the Streets” hit a deep chord for me personally, bringing up images of our experience ripping around show to show, going from town to town and trying to find meaning in it all. The retro listening was a little more glam-inspired while the new music listening varied from Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky” to Queens of the Stone Age’s “Era Vulgaris.”

I think the theme was freedom to be ourselves and do it ourselves and to do what comes naturally. That seems to be the theme of the band really, constantly evolving to achieve creative freedom.

Is it a good thing that so many other Colorado acts have been getting national exposure lately (The Fray, DeVotchKa, Flobots)? Where do you fit in with that, having already toured quite a bit and gotten some good buzz in the press?

I am happy for their successes. It has made Colorado’s music scene cool instead of lame. I’d like to think we fit in the middle somewhere. I feel blessed to be getting the attention we are getting. There are many more Colorado bands who have just as much talent and drive and experience as the bands mentioned above who are still relatively unknown but deserve the same in my opinion. I guess it’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Are you psyched for the Mile High Music Festival in July?

Very very excited. I can’t wait to see Petty and Spoon. I will be there the whole time if I can.

What have been some of your favorite places to play around the country lately, and why?

We love to play northern Cali because it’s beautiful and the drives up the coast are gorgeous. New York is always fun and always electric.

Anything you wanna add?

We’ll be having a CD release show on June 24th at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. This summer we head out with Gov’t Mule on the east coast, State Radio on the west coast, and the Whigs somewhere in the middle. Oh, we are doing an in-store at Twist & Shout in Denver on June 25 at 6 p.m. and Bart’s in Boulder on June 27.

Hmmm… what else. Oh, Rose Hill Drive just got accepted into Yahoo’s Who’s Next program. Here’s the link to watch our new video for “Sneak Out.”

Over and out, Jake.

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